And so it begins...

     Favorite day yet! I started off the day by going to an open-air market with fresh fruits, vegetables, and spices. It was definitely worth getting up at 6:30 a.m, which will unfortunately be late once school starts. Plus, when your water isn't working and you can't shower, it eliminates time to get ready in the morning. The girls and I bought a bunch of things to begin our week as we will be cooking meals from now on.

    We went to the church that Marc and Amy go to, which is in Spanish but pastored by an American missionary. Most conservative Evangelical churches in Caracas are small so this church only has about 50 members. Worship was great, lots of English songs sung in Spanish that I could worship with and the sermon was preached by a man whose Spanish was very clear. With Amy translating part of the sermon, I felt like I came away with about 20% of the message, which was more than I expected. After church they serve coffee and snacks and have a time of fellowship. I met so many people and had many opportunities to practice my Spanish. Kayla, Alli, and I met two girls who both speak English fluently and they, along with the youth pastor, invited us to a movie with them and Marc and Amy on Thursday. The church was extremely friendly and patient with my lack of Spanish knowledge. I left excited and energized.

     Lunch and the afternoon was spent at El Hatillo. We ate in a food court of a mall that felt similar to malls in the States. I ordered an amazing chicken panini with vegetables that was quite possibly the best sandwich I've ever had. However, it took me at least 25 minutes of waiting for the guy to make it as he rudely let two others order in front of me. He kept smiling at me like he knew I just wanted him to get on with making my food. Afterwards we walked around a tourist area with a large shop for souvenirs. The buildings in the area are brightly colored and the streets are less crowded than in the city. I really enjoyed it.

     Since we have no running water at the house, all 5 of us packed up our stuff and headed over to Pat and Darcy's (new teachers, older couple, awesome people) apartment attached to the school to take showers and once again use the internet. It was fun to all hang out together even if we were all working on our computers. We had dinner with Pat and Darcy and got to experience some of Pat's cooking. He used to be a chef and has even offered to give us some cooking lessons sometime.

Our last roommate Natalie, a returning teacher, has arrived! I had the privilege of meeting her previously as she is a fellow Ohioan from the Cincinnati area.

     Now that returning teachers are arriving and the touring is over it has finally hit that I will be teaching my first day of school in 10 days. Tomorrow starts hardcore orientation, lesson planning, and decorating my classroom. I am definitely feeling overwhelmed with the reality of how much I have to do and how little time I have to get it done. I have school policies to learn, a classroom to get ready which currently has everything in the middle of the room in a pile, a new format for lesson plans, and assessments to create. A group of students are coming in to do some grunt work in our classrooms for a few hours tomorrow and I now have a list of things for them to do. I can't wait to meet more of my students and really begin to feel like a teacher. I am super excited but nervous and overwhelmed at the same time. Can't wait to get started!

Short Stories:

1) Marc and Amy received a blessing in the form of a car today. A missionary family from the school is in the States on furlough and is allowing them to drive their car for the year. So awesome for them! I am hoping that since they live next to us, this will mean the occasional ride to school or home from the grocery store...score!

2) I was at church one day and have already been asked to play the piano during the service. The church has two guitars and some drums but is lacking a piano player. So who knows...maybe I'll be up there in a few weeks playing piano.

3) I love speaking Spanish, as horrible as I currently am at it. It was so fun to practice at church, especially talking to people who don't speak any English. I can only ask a few questions so far but I am enjoying trying to communicate despite the language barrier. It makes me excited to know I will opportunities to practice despite the fact that most of my day is spent in English.

Spanish words of the day: I learned a bunch of new words today as someone I have talked to through the Spanish program I am learning sent me a beginner's lesson. So today you get to learn several that I just discovered today.

'diente' which means 'teeth'. Think of it like dentist.

'viejo' which means 'old'

'divertido' which means 'fun'

'ahi' which means 'over there' when talking about a distance away